Pair accused of using fake credit cards

Two Cuban nationals living in Florida have been indicted in federal court for allegedly using credit card skimmers to make fake credit cards, which were used to make purchases in several Northeast Ohio communities, including Mentor.

Silvio Leon, 45, and Pablo Arrechavaleta, 41, are facing charges of conspiracy to commit access device (credit card) fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Leon, Arrechavaleta and others allegedly traveled from Florida to Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia Colorado, Iowa and elsewhere to covertly install credit card skimmers at gas stations. This occurred between May 2016 and June 2018, according to the indictment.

They re-encoded the stolen account information and other data onto counterfeit credit cards, which they used to make purchases at Sam’s Club, Walmart and other retail stores across the country, including Ohio.

Purchases included a large quantity of gift cards in large denominations. The cards were mailed to accomplices in Florida, according to the indictment.

When they were arrested, the pair had almost 5,000 credit card accounts, according to court records.

Between May 21 and May 23, 2016 the pair used the counterfeit cards to purchase more than $1,000

worth of gift cards and merchandise at Sam’s Club stores in Mentor, Canton, Cuyahoga Falls and Oakwood Village. They were also using fraudulent Sam’s Club memberships.

They again traveled from Florida to Ohio just over a year later from June 2 to June 4, 2017. They again used the counterfeit cards and Sam’s Club membership to make more than $1,000 worth of purchases at the store’s locations in Mentor, Oakwood Village and Canton.

In February 2018 they allegedly traveled to Mentor and installed a credit card skimmer on a BP Gas Station pump. When the skimmer was discovered on Feb. 27, it contained approximately 1,000 victims’ names and credit card numbers.

On April 12, the pair traveled from Florida to Pittsburgh where they rented a car and traveled to the Sam’s Club in Mentor to again make fraudulent purchases.

In June the pair made more than $1,000 worth of fraudulent purchases at a Cleveland Sam’s Club. On June 11, they checked into the Aloft Hotel in North Olmstead. In their possession were gas station pump access keys; two gray skimming devices; two laptop computers; three flash drives with stolen information of more than 1,000 people; a fraudulent driver’s license; a fraudulent Sam’s Club membership and fraudulently purchased gift cards and merchandise.

Mentor police assisted the FBI in the investigation.